That night I found myself at the hospital.

Surprising, right?

Well, I wasn't technically the one to be admitted to the hospital, but I was still pretty upset, let me tell you that. I came home from school to find my own mother about to down a whole bottle of her antidepressants. Thank god I'd stopped her on time, but she was such a mess that I hadn't any idea what to do with her. So that's why we're here.

The hospital staff already informed me that they wanted my mother to go spend a few days at a psychiatric ward, but where would that leave me? I don't have any relaties in Seoul, and it's not like the government would even allow me, a highschool freshman, to live on my own even for just a few days. I didn't have any close enough friends yet to ask to stay with them, and I didn't have any of their phone numbers if I even wanted to ask.

Basically, I was screwed.

And on top of that, I couldn't help but blame myself. Had I not beed so rude and stubborn about auditioning for the dance team instead of spending time with my mom, maybe she wouldn't have gotten this desperate. If I had just it up and accepted her obvious cry for my company then we wouldn't be here right now.

But the worst part was that what upset me most was not that my own mother almost made an attempt on her life. No, I was more upset that I didn't know what to do with myself now. I was fully aware that it was completely and utterly selfish to be concerned about my own position right now when my mom was sleeping in a hospital bed beside me, but I was a selfish person, admittedly. That didn't mean I liked being that way, however.

But the point remained that I had nowhere to go. It was at that moment that a nurse entered my mom's room to check her vitals.

"Kai, right?" she said, without looking up from her work. She seemed nice enough, though, and I decided it would be worth it to at least show her some respect. She probably gets a lot of from her difficult patients working as a nurse anyway.

"Yes ma'am," I mumbled.

"I understand you are new to the city, so we've contacted some of the people in your apartment complex who have children attending the same high school as you and we have found a place for you to stay. The student's name is Do Kyung Soo, a second-year, and he seemed to know you alreaedy, so I don't think it will be a problem."

"Um, thank you, miss..." I replied awkwardly. Do Kyung Soo? I don't even know who the hell that is, so why is he claiming he knows me??

"You're quite welcome. We'll get everything set up with your mother for you, and we'll call a taxi that you can take back to your complex."

I nodded respectfully at her again as fear rose in my system. Who was this guy and what did he even want with me? I sighed as I stood up and kissed my sleeping mother on her forehead in goodbye before making my way out of the room. I followed the instructions I was given by the hospital staff quite nicely, for minutes later, I was already in a pre-paid taxi on my way back to the building with a slip of paper that had the room number of my new temporary home on it.

I was very grateful to the people at the hospital for taking care of my mom and being so kind to do this for me, but I couldn't help but continue to be worried about who this other kid was who's family I would be staying with and why he would say we know each other.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Turns out, I'm just an idiot.

Do Kyung Soo was D.O. from Sehun's group of friends. When his parents got a phone call from the hospital and they had told him the situation and my name, he immediately insisted that they house me and his parents easily complied.

To say that I was relieved to be staying with someone I actually did know and not just some creepy kid would be a drastic understatement. I was actually kind of looking forward to the next few days. I loved my mom, but without having to take care of her all the time, I think this will be a relaxing few days. This might be just what I need to calm down a bit. 

So as I stood there in the open doorway after having fetched a few things from my own apartment and thrown them in an old suitcase, D.O. was looking me up and down worriedly.

"Kai!" he shouted, pulling me inside the apartment. "What happened? You're okay, right?"

"Y-yeah, I'm okay," I replied awkwardly, a little shocked at all that had been happening tonight. "By the way, thank you so much for letting me stay here. It really means a lot to me."

"It's no problem at all," he said, giving me a warm smile before picking up my suitcase.

"Oh, I can carry my own stuff," I objected, trying to get it back, but D.O. only pulled it away from my reach.

"Don't worry about it. You're bound to be a bit overwhelmed with all of this. Let me take care of this."

God was I lucky to have met these people. I followed him into the apartment where we found his parents lounging together on the sofa in the living room. "Umma, appa," D.O. called them to get there attention."Kai's here." The couple immediately extracted themselves from the couch to come greet me while D.O. left me with them to go put my suitcase somewhere.

"Good evening," I began, bowing deeply. "I would like to thank you both so much for allowing me into your home for the next few days. It was very kind of you to-"

"No need to be so formal," D.O.'s dad cut me off with a chuckle. "It's an honour having you here with us," his mom continued. "D.O. told us about how Sehun introduced you to them all on the first day of school and we'd pestered him about when we would get to meet you like all his other little friends. I guess now is as good a time as ever," she finished with a smile.

I grinned too at her kindness. She seemed like one of those typical nagging yet still loving mothers who wasn't afraid to embarass her children at any chance she would get. I ultimately decided that I really liked this woman. At that moment, D.O. returned to the living room.

"Have you had dinner yet, Kai?" he asked me.

Wow, I'd totally forgot about food. And I probably looked and smelled like too, since I hadn't showered since the audition. "N-no, I haven't," I stuttered quietly, not wanting to make them go out of their way to take care of me.

"Come on, I'm sure we've got some leftovers from tonight's dinner," he said, leading me towards their kitchen.

I sighed as he motioned for me to sit down at the table while he brought me some food. I couldn't help but feel a little weirded out by this whole situation after all. "You sure you're okay?" he asked concernedly as he worked. I just nodded my head when he looked over to me, not really feeling like speaking. "I know this is probably a bit weird to you, considering we only met each other yesterday. Plus you're still probably trying to process what's happened tonight, right?"

Well damn, he was spot on. This guy was really good at reading people. "Yeah, that's pretty much it," I said nonchalantly. He sent me a small smile as he placed a bowl of food in front of me. I thanked him again and he sat down so I wouldn't have to be alone in this new environment.

"If you don't mind my asking..." he started. "Does stuff like this happen a lot?"

I thought for a moment. Do I mind his asking? Eh, probably not. It's not like I'm a introvert anyway; I'm quick to trust. "Well, kinda," I said after quite a long pause. "My mom has been like this since her divorce, but she's never actually gone this far before."

"I'm sorry, man," D.O. responded. "Just know that our place is always open if you ever need a place to stay again."

I was truly appreciative of his kindness, I really was. When I was finished with dinner, he let me shower and change into my pajamas before showing me to his room, where he had an extra bed that I would be using. I practically fell right asleep as soon as my face hit the pillow.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Morning, Kai!"

I groaned out. Jesus, it was morning, how can this guy sound so awake already?

"Come on, get up now if you don't want to be late for school!"

I sat up, against my will, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes to see D.O. already dressed and ready for the day. ", hyung, how early did you get up," I whined, still not mentally awake.

"Not too long, but my mom and I made breakfast for you, if you want," he suggested with a tired smile.

"Ah, you didn't have to do that," I complained, embarrassed that he was doing so much to take care of me. I really liked how he treated me like such a close friend already, since I was clearly extremely uncomfortable with staying in the house of someone I barely know. "Yes, but I wanted to!" he said. "Now get up, we're leaving in 10 minutes!"

Once we had arrived at school together, he led me to a spot around the side of the school where there was a small courtyard with lots of trees and concrete picnic tables. I followed blindly as he made his way to one of the tables on the far side of the courtyard where the rest of his group was waiting. Apparently, they liked to spend their mornings here.

"Morning!" D.O. shouted out when he'd gotten close enough.

"Morning D.O., morning Kai," Sehun greeted happily. "What's up?"

"I've got a new roommate!" D.O. beemed, and I mentally face-palmed. I didn't really want everyone to know what was going on in my home life. Did I? "What do you mean?" Suho asked. laughing slightly.

"I found out Kai and I live in the same apartment complex," he continued. "He's going to be staying with me for a few days." I was glad no one asked any further quesitons, however, which left me to enjoy a peaceful morning to goof off with his new friends. The rest of the day passed in the same way, and I was so glad to be in the same classes as Sehun. The two of us were really bonding with all of our class time together, and I really felt like I was forming a strong friendship with the guy.

However, when last period came, I had forgotten that Sehun and I were in different English classes. I groaned as I made my way, alone, towards my last class of the day, preparing for a lonely class period to pass by unproductively. As I entered the classroom, I glanced around at the open desks. This teacher didn't have a seating chart, so you were allowed to sit wherever you wanted.

Usually people see that as a good thing. I didn't like it. It meant that I would have to find somewhere new to sit- alone- and do my work- like a loner- every single day. I picked a seat near the back of the classroom today, and focused on getting out my class materials before the bell would ring.

"Hi," someone said in a soft, shy voice from in front of me. "Mind if I sit with you?" I looked up slowly to see Lee ing Taemin standing right before me, asking to sit next to me.

"O-of course you can," I replied, maybe a bit too enthusiastically as he giggled and sat himself in the empty seat beside me. "I saw you at dance auditions yesterday," he said. "You were really good."

I grinned sheepishly at his compliment, his words making fireworks go off in my chest. I was used to getting complimented on my dancing skills, but it meant so much more hearing it from Taemin. "Th-thanks," I stuttered.

"No problem. You know, I'm posting the results today after this class. If you come with me, you can be the first to see them," he continued with a wink. I gaped slightly at what he was saying. I didn't want to get too ahead of myself, but would he really be this upfront if I hadn't made the team? I sure hoped my assumptions were correct and Taemin wasn't just an who would give me false hope like that.

"Yeah!" I said.

He smiled at me. "Great. You can just follow me back to the arts hall after class, then."

I nodded just as the bell rang, signalling the start of class. The teacher stood up from her desk and began her lesson for the day, but I didn't really feel like paying too much attention. It was all introductory crap anyway.

"Say, Taemin-ssi, why are you taking level 1 English anyway?" I whispered over to him, being mindful not to draw the teacher's attention.

"Ah, I failed last year," he said, pouting. "English is so not my subject."

I almost burst out laughing at how adorable he looked, but I had to hold myself back, and just gave a little chuckle instead. "Oh, that's okay." The two of us exchanged mindless conversation throughout the rest of class, which left me in a great mood as the two of us walked towards the arts hall together after the last bell rang.

There's always a light in the darkness.

I guess he's that light.